By Evelyn Usman and Victor Akwafresh

With his bag strapped on his back and a black polythene nylon in which was an empty food pack, 12-year-old Uche (not real names) walked home, two weeks ago. Just then, it became cloudy and before anyone could fathom the next move, the heaven opened, with torrents of rain dropping uncontrollably. Passers-by ran to take shelter. Uche was not left out as he ran into a lock -up shop around Center road in Ojokoro area of Ikorodu. Unknown to him, he had run right into the waiting hands of two kidnappers who were apparently looking for the best opportunity to strike.

The kidnapped suspects

The duo of Akinyosoye Seun and Akinyosoye Akin, as later identified, soon engaged the young lad in discussion, and he innocently disclosed to them that his father worked in a bank.

From there , they cajoled the boy to their one room apartment at Jerry street, Ojokoro, where it later dawned on him that he had been kidnaped. His father who all the while had been apprehensive, was later contacted where he was asked to pay the sum of N4 million as ransom. At the end of the day, the victim’s father reportedly paid N55,000 as part payment, leading to the release of his son three days later.

Few days later, the kidnappers were rounded up following a clever move by the victim who succeeded in obtaining one of their passport photographs when he was in their custody. The photograph was what gave Police detectives the break. Surprisingly, the suspects were discovered to be brothers of same parents.

When they spoke with Crime Alert, they blamed their act on the negligence of their father. The first suspect, 19-year-old Akinsoye Seun, a Senior Secondary School Certificate holder said, “ We were tempted by the mention of his father as a banker. When we asked why his father did not come to pick him, he said he had earlier informed him to come home himself, adding also that his father was married to another woman who could have instigated him against coming to pick him. When it stopped raining, we all left the place together since we were going in the same direction. But half way, we told him to come home with us that we would put a call to his father from there and he agreed. At home, he begged to leave but we assured him we would take him home later. He subsequently fell asleep”

Asked if he was induced to sleep, Seun shook his head. Also asked why other tenants did not take notice of the little boy while he was with them, he replied, “ we locked him up in the house and prevented him from going out. We bought a potty which he peed and poohed in. At night we would go and throw it away. It was like that until the day his father paid N55,000 into our account. We then took him to the bus-stop at night and put him inside a bus heading for Ikorodu”

Asked what lured them into kidnapping, his twenty-three year-old elder brother, Akin, responded, “Frustration and neglect by our father pushed us into this. Our father is married to four wives with over twenty children. We had to leave the house last September to live on our own , at least to help my mum . Then I had a taxi I was running for commercial purposes. But along the line, the car developed a fault and had been parked for two weeks now. We were actually short of cash and had to hijack the opportunity , with the aim of, at least, getting something with which to carry on.”

Asked what they did with the N55,000 ransom, he said they used it to buy food stuffs. Also asked how they fed their victim during his three days hostage, he replied, “ we used the little money with us to buy him rice, biscuit and indomie”

Explaining how the brothers met their waterloo, Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr Samuel Jinadu said while the little boy was in their custody, he stumbled on one of their passport pictures, unknown to them. “ After he was released, he showed it to his father who subsequently took it to policemen at Owutu who had been investigating the disappearance of the boy. Surprisingly, the passport turned out to be that of one Akin Akinyosoye , who once had a case with us. Then the person in question walked into the police station one day in respect of the earlier case, only for the Investigation Police Officer(IPO) to show him the recovered passport. During investigation, he mentioned his brother’s name who was subsequently arrested”